Dek Unu Magazine Jan 2020 Leslie Sheryll

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Eleven

This is Dek Unu Magazine. In

Esperanto, dek unu means "eleven."
Eleven Images from a single artist.
Eleven artists in eleven solo issues
each year.

Dek Unu publishes the work of a new
photoartist in each issue The artist's
work and words are featured alone
and in individual focus as the sole
purpose for each issue of the
magazine Unlike other arts and
letters magazines which might look
for work from a variety of artists to
support an editorial staffs theme, at
Dek Unu, theme and imagery are
always each artist's own.

Magazine

Dek Unu seeks challenging, complex
work that focuses and intensifies
perception from artists who
demonstrate accomplished technical
craft and mature aesthetic vision.

Eulah with Hollyhocks - Fecundity

Catherine with Dittany of Crete - Birth

Anita with Pomegranate - Fertility

Cecelia with Peaches - Love

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Katie with Figs - Jealousy

Victoria with Echinacea - Strength

Cynthia with Magnolia - Womanly Beauty

Margaret with French Marigolds - Fertility

Wilhelmina with Belladonna - Silence

Harriet with Calla Lilies - Purity

Olive with Figs - Fertility

Artist Interview - Leslie Sheryll

Hi, Leslie! Beautiful pix and fascinating story.... time travel back
to the 19th century!

I live in a city founded during the 19th century. My home was built by
a female real-estate speculator in the 1870 : s. I often wonder what life
was like for the original owners who inhabited my home during the
Victorian Era in America. For the first time, the new Industrial
Revolution took men out into the workforce while women stayed
home to look after children and home. Darwinism was in full swing.
Women were considered inferior to men. They had no legal rights.
This is one of the factors that lead to the start of the Women's
Suffrage Movement My work explores gender roles and female
identity during an era that still has a direct impact on the lives of
women today.

My 19th-Century Limestone ©Leslie Sheryll

Sex education? From Flowers?

The series references the Victorian’s fascination with botany.
Botanical illustration and classification were among the few
venues of study that a proper woman was allowed to pursue
during the 19th-century. The 17th-century botanist, Carl Linnaeus
had created a system of identifying flowers based on male and
female reproductive organs. As women learned about botany,
they used their knowledge to educate children and young women
about sex (which was considered a taboo and un-lady-like
subject) by writing books that explained human sexuality using
flowers as a metaphor

It's hard to imagine that today. Didn't flowers themselves
have secret meanings?

‘The Language of Flowers’ was a fad that became popular
during that era. There were what we would call "coffee table”
books written predominantly by women for women and their
romantic partners. They contained illustrations, poems and a
dictionary that assigned each flower a symbolic romantic
meaning. This way one could communicate a coded message
by giving flowers to another without breaking any of the strict
Victorian taboos of the time. While women were not considered
smart enough, by men. to publish “serious” books (which was a
man's domain), men thought these books "about flowers" were
frivolous enough to let them be. The flowers I have chosen in
this series each reference a physical or emotional attribute. This
language helps to empower these women to understand their
own sexual and emotional identity.

How did you get started in photography?

I don’t remember when there wasn't some sort of art in my life. I
started as a child; it came naturally to me like playing with
toys.My grandfather was an amateur photographer and
filmmaker. He had a darkroom and film editing equipment in his
home. But it was not until high school that I became involved with
photography myself.

I went to a specialized high school, The High School of Art and
Design in New York City The school was a great experience where
I met students from all over the city. The first year involved
rotations, and we were introduced to various art forms I connected
with photography. I realized that my drawing skills were not very
strong and my eye could capture what I wanted to say through the
lens in a way my hands could not.

Many photographers remember their first "decent" photo.

Do you remember one that started it all?

The first photo I remember (though I don’t know that it would be
considered "decent”) was a still-life of a hookah pipe with a can of
tobacco. My parents had just been to Turkey, and they bought me a
hookah (not to use. of course) The photo was shot with a 4x5 view
camera and it was the first image I worked on start to finish, setting
up lighting, processing the film, printing, and mounting. I think I still
have the image somewhere I went on to major in photography at
the Kansas City Art Institute where I studied traditional black and
white and color photography along with subjects like video, art
history, and fiber I currently continue to incorporate fiber art into
some of my work.

When I graduated. I wanted to become a fashion photographer. I
was influenced by the work of Sarah Moon and Debra Turberville. I
worked with a well-known fashion photographer and eventually got
a few good opportunities in the fashion field. Ultimately though, I
was too introverted to really make it in a field that required a lot of
self-promotion.

These images are a long way from "straight" photography.

How did you get into photo-montage?

I did traditional photography for years; it was not until I lost access
to a darkroom that I turned solely to digital imagery. I was trying to
think of a new project and had access to my husband’s collection of
tintypes (which I have added to over the years by going to thrift
shops and consignment stores). I scanned the tintypes of women

and I played with the images. At that point, I had little knowledge of
Photoshop or anything digital. I am not a gear person when it
comes to equipment. For years I shot with vintage cameras with no
real controls, and I also used a pinhole camera for many years. So.
it was all trial and error and youtube tutorials I work intuitively with
one thing leading to another My ideas create questions that I
research. Research creates more ideas and one thing just leads to
another It is amazing how everything is connected

Studio View - Some of My Tintypes ©Leslie Sheryll

Your work is not only highly visually "literate" but also
encompasses history, anthropology, and lab science!
Multiple majors?

I had no formal training in women's studies, botany, cultural
anthropology or political science. I researched each subject as I

went along. In addition, I wanted to take my work beyond something
that is a reflection of my inner psyche and bring it to a larger
audience Politics today is so scary. Women’s rights are being
stripped away and I am tapping into an exceptionally turbulent era of
the past to either remind or educate people of how hard and long
women had to fight for their rights. I try to tell their stories and relate
them to our own.

My first cohesive series, titled Voids , was a collection of images of
women with their faces blocked out. They had no identity. As I went
on to other series, the faces were partially revealed Those blocked
out areas eventually took the form of a male profile, as in being
overshadowed by men. As time went on and the women in my series
became stronger their faces were revealed. I felt as if I was growing
stronger as they were growing stronger

How about Influences or pivotal moments? Has there
been a game-changer, motivator, or essential experience?

I like to incorporate symbolism used in traditional paintings prior to
the 20th century within many of my images. In 2016,1 went to a
fabulous exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum in New York
called Securing The Shadow. It was about Posthumous Portraiture
in America. It re-sparked my interest in the symbolism used within
19th-century paintings that I never really got a chance to delve
into.

I bought the book that was published for the exhibition, and I was
astonished that it aligned so well with so many of the different
series that I had been creating over the years about women. It
inspired my then-new series titled Mourning Tears. All of the
various shapes, flowers, colors, scenery, and animals are used as
a language to convey a story or emotion within each image. I love
that even though the Victorians were outwardly repressed there
was always a way to secretly by-pass those taboos.

Over the decades, feminism has had many waves and
multiple definitions. How do you describe your feminism?

My feminism is about strength, solidarity, sisterhood, and action
So many of our rights as women are under attack again Our
environment is being destroyed Money talks, nothing else
matters The women of the 19th century began their fight for the
right to vote and it took 70 years. They were persistent and made
great strides We cannot forget what they did and let our rights
wither away We need to get the message out by educating and
motivating the younger generation to take action, and we all need
to stay engaged and do everything necessary to protect and
advance our rights as women

Do you travel, work, or show with a peer group, collective,
community, or gang?

Within the last year, I have become a committee member in two
arts organizations in Jersey City. Pro Arts and the Jersey City Arts
Council. Both groups help with the advancement and promotion of
artists living or working in Jersey City and surrounding areas
Meeting and working with a group of artists is invaluable Not only
is it a chance to see new art, to learn about opportunities to show,
and to make connections, but it is also a way to connect with a
group of people that understands the sometimes solitary process
of making art

I am also involved with a political group of mostly women called The
Wednesday Group We started it right after the election of Donald
Trump as a way of not only dealing with the disappointment with the
direction of our country but as a way of empowering ourselves to
make a change through action Over these years, we have raised
funds to support Democrats running for office on all levels, donated
to families in detention at “Trump's border wall,” met with
candidates, had lectures, marched at many protests, and we have
written probably thousands of postcards to voters around the
country urging people to vote It has turned into an amazing group of
solidarity

Any shows, publications, or other projects to publicize?

I am one of four artists in a show at the Newark Public Library titled:
Radical Women: A Hundred Years of Women's Suffrage in New
Jersey which opens in January, 2020. And I will be in an exhibit in
England in February, but it has not yet been announced

Thanks so much, Leslie. How can we stay in touch?

Please contact me at:

www.lesliesheryll.com

leslie.sheryll@gmail.com

linked in.com/in/leslie-sheryll-08a064136

facebook.com/leslie.sheryll

instagram.com/lesliesheryllartist

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